When I was younger I griped a lot about Christmas music and lighting the tree before Christmas Day. Christmas is a season on the church calendar and it doesn't start until the 25th. The next 12 days then, are where we can bust out the Christmas music and celebrate. That period before Christmas, which is usually most of December, is Advent and in the Christian tradition is a penitential season. During Advent we're prayerfully waiting in hopeful anticipation for the baby Jesus.

As I've gotten older I've realized that my zealousness didn't really serve my purpose, to point to Christ and Him crucified for you. The truth of the matter is much of the world, knowingly or otherwise, bends the knee to the Savior as they rejoice in His arrival, albeit a little early perhaps. If I'm being honest, it's hard for me to be upset at that, even in spite of my religious zealotry.

In 2020 I think it's even harder to get worked up about such things. It's been a rough year and everyone has spent it in hopeful anticipation. If staying home mostly alone for the better part of a year isn't penitential than I don't know what it is! But quite frankly, my wife has expressed this better than I have.

In recent years the tree goes up Thanksgiving weekend and it's lit as soon as the last ornament is hung. I've also taken to making a playlist of Christmas music that will play for most of December. Each year I start from the previous year's playlist and make adjustments. This year we sat around the living room as a family culling duplicate songs and adding new songs. This is a little thing we do as a family, but it's fun and brings us joy. I figure in 2020 wherever you can find joy, you should take advantage of it, even Christmas music in Advent! If you like Christmas music, maybe you'll enjoy our family's playlist. It's on Apple Music and available for your listening enjoyment. If there's a fantastic Christmas song that you don't see, get ahold of me and let me know, please!

Check out the Lemon family Christmas playlist for 2020